1. Technical Field
Embodiments relate to the field of computer network applications and networked communications.
2. Related Art
Camera-enabled mobile devices continue to show an increasing popularity. Typical user paradigms include user-initiated image or video capture with operator-specific post processing options, including for example, save locally, e-mail, send via MMS, upload to a web site, etc. Much of the mobile device industry is focused on delivering content to mobile devices. Clearly, the delivery of content to mobile devices is critical and useful. However, as mobile devices increase in power and functionality, these devices become increasingly important as sources of content in addition to being consumers of content. One important source of content on these devices is the image or video capture components provided with camera-enabled mobile devices. It would be advantageous to be able to upload these images to a server and to notify users of the availability of the uploaded images. Conventional systems do not provide such functionality.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2002/0108118A1 describes a digital data storage and transmitting device particularly suited for use with a digital camera, digital camcorder, or other image/video capturing device. The digital data storage and transmitting device is configured in to upload or transmit picture information to a remote server using any of a number of communication protocols or techniques, including wireless or cell phone technologies. However, the device described in the referenced patent application is a wireless digital camera adapter and not a camera-enabled mobile telephone.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,847,334 describes a mobile telecommunication device for simultaneously transmitting and receiving sound and image data. The described mobile telecommunication unit provides two-way remote viewing of images and real-time audio. The self-contained portable unit communicates directly with a similar unit at a remote location across POTS lines, cellular, ISDN, T-1, and satellite communications links. In one implementation of the system described in the referenced patent, a portable, mobile telecommunication unit is designed to transmit voice, and still image data simultaneously to a compatible device on the other end of a telephone connection. One unit is placed into contact with the second, compatible device by a phone call. To capture an image the user takes a picture with a digital camera provided with the unit. Through a camera interface, the digital camera transfers an image to the local unit. The local unit can then transmit the image to the remote unit. The device described in the '334 patent does not automatically capture images with a camera-enabled mobile device and does not upload images to a network server. Further, the referenced patent does not describe a way to archive and automatically animate (convert images to movies) the automatically uploaded images. Additionally, the referenced patent does not describe the automatic archiving and sharing of the transmitted image data.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,553,609 describes an intelligent remote visual monitoring system for home health care service. In this system, a computer-based remote visual monitoring system is provided for in home patient health care from a remote location via ordinary telephone lines. A number of master monitoring computers are linked to a control center and are accessible by a corresponding number of health care professionals. A slave monitoring computer is located within the home of a plurality of patients and may be linked via telephone modems to any of the master monitoring computers. Audio/visual equipment at both locations, permits real-time two-way communications during an in-home visit to a patient by a healthcare professional from a remote location. However, the '609 patent does not describe a system in that uses camera-enabled mobile devices to upload images to a networked server. Further, the referenced patent does not describe a way to archive and automatically animate (convert images to movies) the automatically uploaded images.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,876,597 describes a system wherein a scene to be monitored (e.g., at a remote location or at a later time) is captured as a series of still images. These images are digitally encoded and stored in a digital memory for subsequent retrieval and viewing. If the scene includes a moving object (e.g., the side of a moving freight train), the images may be taken so that they are substantially mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive of the moving object. During playback, two or more adjacent images may be displayed adjacent to one another so that any feature partly present in adjacent images is visible as a whole. If the observer is at a location remote from the point at which the images are taken, various techniques can be used to facilitate transmission of the image information (preferably in digital form) via relatively low-cost transmission links such as voice-grade telephone lines. The '597 patent is further described as an invention that will be fully understood from an explanation of its use in identifying moving railroad freight cars, especially (although not necessarily) at locations remote from the observer required to make the identification. Thus, the '597 patent does not describe the use of a mobile device for capturing images. Further, the referenced patent does not describe a way to archive and automatically animate (convert images to movies) the automatically uploaded images.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,122,526 describes a combined telephone/camera unit that includes a camera module for generating electronic image data representative of a scene to be imaged, a memory unit for storing the electronic image data generated by the camera module, a display screen for displaying the electronic image data stored in the memory unit, a mechanism for selecting which of the plurality of base units is to receive the digital image data, and a cellular transceiver for transmitting the digital image data to the base units selected by the selection mechanism. However, the '526 patent does not describe a system in that uses camera-enabled mobile devices to automatically upload images to a networked server on a periodic basis. Further, the referenced patent does not describe a way to archive and automatically animate (convert images to movies) the automatically uploaded images.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,980,993 describes a schema-based notification platform that provides regularized notification handling including user control and normalization of the operation of policies across different information types and contexts. Information-service schemas and services are combined to build a content-sensitive and context-sensitive information service to communicate information to recipient devices of users that subscribe to those services. An information agent service collects the information, and based on various criteria, determines if, when, and how to send and render the information, and to which subscribing client device or devices. The set of schemas include a notification schema that represents the subscription of a service to an information source and details about that information, and a device schema that represents information about user devices. The information agent service accesses criteria including user preferences and user contextual information, including presence information, location information, and schedule information along with people and groups data and extended-context data. Preferences about subscriptions and information handling policies may be stored and used at notification sources or in more central preference encodings. Access to multiple preferences is maintained, and a user interface is provided that allows users to inspect and control multiple subscriptions in one conceptual place.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,977,585 describes a monitoring system and method that allows customization of a monitoring system and method according to a user's instruction, thereby achieving a higher flexibility in configuring the monitoring scheme. The monitoring system comprises a user system and a security server. The user system includes a capture unit, an input unit, a sensor, an imaging unit and a home server. The home server accepts the user's instructions and configure monitoring program realized by the home server. The user may specify logical connections between imaging unit and sensor, notification rule when the alarm is occurred.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,970,183 describes a comprehensive, wireless multimedia surveillance and monitoring system provides a combination of megapixel digital camera capability with full motion video surveillance with a network, including network components and appliances such as wiring, workstations, and servers with the option of geographical distribution with various wide area carriers.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,850,601 describes a security detection system includes a detection unit capable of detecting a condition, said unit in communication with a remote central server. Where the detection unit is connected to the server via a dial-up modem, the detection system may be connected to a telephone seizure unit. Upon occurrence and detection of a condition, the detection unit prevents a telephone from communicating with a main telephone line, while still allowing said detection unit to communicate electronic information to the server, even upon lifting of the telephone receiver from the base. Once electronic information is sent to the server, a programmed database of the server may send the information according to a pre-determined designation. The server monitors whether a designated party has responded to the information, and if not, may send the information to a human monitoring station. The designated party may request and receive additional information from the detection unit, via the server.
United States Patent Application No. 20050271250 describes a method that determines whether a detected event is a significant event requiring action in a video surveillance system. Determined event attributes and object attributes are analyzed to determine if the potential event should trigger an action by the surveillance system. If the potential event should trigger an action, at least one action is triggered. Actions may include relevant event attribute and object attribute information. Potential event may include events detected by a sensor, or external events communicated by an external system to the surveillance system. Event attributes may include location and type of the potential event. Object attributes may include an identification of an object, and attributes associated with the identified object. If an object cannot be positively identified, object attributes may include potential object identifications or determined group associations of the object.
United States Patent Application No. 20050151640 describes a method for transferring data may include receiving data from a monitoring device, determining whether the subject being monitored has a condition that may require attention, and sending a notification message to a portable electronic device that is designed to be carried by a caregiver if such a condition exists. The notification message may be sent using one or both of a first wireless data transfer method and a second wireless data transfer method. The system may use both methods to communicate with one device or may use the first method to communicate with a first device and the second method to communicate with a second device. The portable electronic device may include two wireless transceivers such as a transceiver designed to connect the device to a local area network of a facility and a transceiver designed to connect the device to a cellular network.
United States Patent Application No. 20030025599 describes a method for identifying the occurrence of an event at a remote location, prioritizing the event, and then, based on the priority, forwarding the event to selected stations on a network incorporates a scheme for tagging the event with the location, type and priority of event at the point where a sensor picks up the event. Event data is then forwarded only to selected stations on the network as required by a priority hierarchy. This permits a large amount of data to be collected at the site of a sensor while minimizing transmission of the data to an as-needed basis, reducing the overall bandwidth requirements of the system. In one aspect, legacy device signals, appliance signals and video and still image data generated at a remote location includes is collected on a pre-selected basis for defining and transmitting an original condition to the remote location. Subsequent data is compared to the data representing the original condition. The transmitted data may be tagged with unique identifying components. The transmitted data is stored for archival, search and retrieval. A notification signal may also be generated and based on prioritization may be forwarded to selected recipients. Notification is also visually indicated on map and other graphic display monitors.
In each of these prior art notification systems, the conventional systems do not have the concept of a “session”; they do not detect the occurrence of an event for which a session is considered stopped or started; they do not detect an event for which a notification should be sent; they do not maintain a list of interested parties, nor do they send a notification to each party on the list of interested parties upon the occurrence of the event, given each party's specific list of notification configuration options.
Thus, a computer-implemented system and method for notifying users upon the occurrence of an event is needed.